The invention relates in general to an apparatus, method and data structure for providing financial information, including investment information, to assist in the evaluation of securities. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus, method and data structure for analyzing a variety of debt and equity instruments.
In the past, bond-pricing and rating information on a specific bond issue was obtained through personal contacts and various services. This process is cumbersome and time intensive as no single contact could provide comprehensive information, thus a complete market evaluation was impossible to achieve.
Several patents have been issued in the financial field. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,812,987 (to Luskin et al.), 5,812,988 (to Sandretto), 5,502,637 (to Beaulieu et al.), and 5,864,871 (to Kitain et al.), each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, relate to investments. None of these references, however, provides the data acquisition, analytical tools, and data record manipulation of the present invention.
The foregoing demonstrates that there is a need for an invention which allows one to efficiently obtain and analyze investment information.